The neuropsychological profile associated with sex chromosome trisomies (SCT) is frequently characterised by delays or deficits in linguistic development. Although maternal input could have an important role in influencing and shaping the linguistic development of children with SCT, there is a lack of studies in the literature that have investigated its prosodic characteristics. The study aims to analyse the prosodic features of the maternal input addressed to a group of 8-month-old children with SCT and a group of typically developing (TD) peers. Nineteen mother–child dyads with children with SCT and 19 mother–child dyads with TD children participated in the study. Maternal utterances were collected during video-recorded play sessions, and for each dyad, 50 maternal utterances were selected and analysed using the software Praat. The results showed that the maternal input produced by the mothers in the SCT group was characterised by a significantly lower pitch, less marked and modulated melodic contours, and a shorter final syllable duration than the input addressed to TD children. The prosodic features found in the maternal input addressed to children with SCT were not those expected in the maternal input addressed to children at this developmental stage and could create a non-optimal linguistic environment.
{"title":"Prosodic features of maternal input to children with sex chromosome trisomies","authors":"Alessandra Provera, Paola Zanchi, Gaia Silibello, Francesca Dall’Ara, Claudia Rigamonti, Federico Monti, Paola Francesca Ajmone, Faustina Lalatta, Maria Antonella Costantino, Paola Giovanna Vizziello, Laura Zampini","doi":"10.1177/01427237221098553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221098553","url":null,"abstract":"The neuropsychological profile associated with sex chromosome trisomies (SCT) is frequently characterised by delays or deficits in linguistic development. Although maternal input could have an important role in influencing and shaping the linguistic development of children with SCT, there is a lack of studies in the literature that have investigated its prosodic characteristics. The study aims to analyse the prosodic features of the maternal input addressed to a group of 8-month-old children with SCT and a group of typically developing (TD) peers. Nineteen mother–child dyads with children with SCT and 19 mother–child dyads with TD children participated in the study. Maternal utterances were collected during video-recorded play sessions, and for each dyad, 50 maternal utterances were selected and analysed using the software Praat. The results showed that the maternal input produced by the mothers in the SCT group was characterised by a significantly lower pitch, less marked and modulated melodic contours, and a shorter final syllable duration than the input addressed to TD children. The prosodic features found in the maternal input addressed to children with SCT were not those expected in the maternal input addressed to children at this developmental stage and could create a non-optimal linguistic environment.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138540513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-04DOI: 10.1177/01427237221098551
T. Tulviste, Anne Tamm
This study explored associations between mothers’ language teaching practices and children’s language skills concurrently and longitudinally, while also taking into account the children’s sex and mothers’ education. Estonian mothers of 76 children reported their language teaching practices at child ages 3;0 and 4;0. Children’s language comprehension and production were measured via the examiner-administered New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS). The results indicated that at Wave 1, girls scored higher on language comprehension and production than boys. Mothers’ higher education predicted higher scores on language production. Maternal corrective feedback was a negative predictor of children’s concurrent language comprehension. At Wave 2, neither maternal teaching practices, maternal education nor child’s sex predicted the language measures of interest. The longitudinal results showed that later language production scores were negatively predicted by mothers’ corrective feedback. Yet, the strongest predictors of both language scores were the scores of language comprehension and production measured 1 year earlier. Moreover, maternal language teaching practices at Wave 2 were predicted by mothers’ early language teaching practices, but not by children’s earlier language skills.
{"title":"A longitudinal study of Estonian mothers’ self-reported language teaching practices and children’s language skills","authors":"T. Tulviste, Anne Tamm","doi":"10.1177/01427237221098551","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221098551","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored associations between mothers’ language teaching practices and children’s language skills concurrently and longitudinally, while also taking into account the children’s sex and mothers’ education. Estonian mothers of 76 children reported their language teaching practices at child ages 3;0 and 4;0. Children’s language comprehension and production were measured via the examiner-administered New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS). The results indicated that at Wave 1, girls scored higher on language comprehension and production than boys. Mothers’ higher education predicted higher scores on language production. Maternal corrective feedback was a negative predictor of children’s concurrent language comprehension. At Wave 2, neither maternal teaching practices, maternal education nor child’s sex predicted the language measures of interest. The longitudinal results showed that later language production scores were negatively predicted by mothers’ corrective feedback. Yet, the strongest predictors of both language scores were the scores of language comprehension and production measured 1 year earlier. Moreover, maternal language teaching practices at Wave 2 were predicted by mothers’ early language teaching practices, but not by children’s earlier language skills.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"599 - 612"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41647801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-04DOI: 10.1177/01427237221097581
Virginia Yip, S. Matthews
Discussing the issue of representativeness from a bilingual perspective, we address how the problem is multiplied in the case of bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). Given 7,000 languages, there are over 24 million possible language pairs that bilingual children might acquire. In current research and databases including CHILDES, English and Indo-European languages dominate: even non-Indo-European languages are typically paired with an Indo-European language. Referring to studies involving East Asian languages, we outline how genetic, contact, and typological relationships between language pairs may influence the course of BFLA.
{"title":"Language diversity and bilingual first language acquisition: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"Virginia Yip, S. Matthews","doi":"10.1177/01427237221097581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221097581","url":null,"abstract":"Discussing the issue of representativeness from a bilingual perspective, we address how the problem is multiplied in the case of bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). Given 7,000 languages, there are over 24 million possible language pairs that bilingual children might acquire. In current research and databases including CHILDES, English and Indo-European languages dominate: even non-Indo-European languages are typically paired with an Indo-European language. Referring to studies involving East Asian languages, we outline how genetic, contact, and typological relationships between language pairs may influence the course of BFLA.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"832 - 836"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43998173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-03DOI: 10.1177/01427237221094438
Lourdes de León
In response to Kidd and Garcia’s survey that shows the paucity of authors and languages from the Global South in four leading journals of language acquisition, I argue that Mayan language acquisition has contributed in important ways to test theories in the field at large. I specifically outline major contributions from Mayan Tzotzil acquisition to topics of input, lexical, semantic and morphological development. Research on Mesoamerican languages is invaluable in understanding the implications of linguistic typology in language acquisition.
{"title":"Learning from Mayan Tzotzil: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"Lourdes de León","doi":"10.1177/01427237221094438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221094438","url":null,"abstract":"In response to Kidd and Garcia’s survey that shows the paucity of authors and languages from the Global South in four leading journals of language acquisition, I argue that Mayan language acquisition has contributed in important ways to test theories in the field at large. I specifically outline major contributions from Mayan Tzotzil acquisition to topics of input, lexical, semantic and morphological development. Research on Mesoamerican languages is invaluable in understanding the implications of linguistic typology in language acquisition.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"784 - 788"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43794321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-24DOI: 10.1177/01427237221096512
Sandra J. Mathers
While observational rating scales such as the Emergent Literacy and Language Early Childhood Checklist for Teachers (ELLECCT) have potential to support Early Childhood Teachers in improving their practice, the existence of a valid and reliable tool is no guarantee of success. A carefully constructed model of teacher professional development will be required to ensure benefits for instructional practice and child language outcomes. This commentary considers the evidence available to guide intelligent design of such a model.
{"title":"Considerations when using rating scales to support teacher professional development: A commentary on Weadman, Serry and Snow (2022)","authors":"Sandra J. Mathers","doi":"10.1177/01427237221096512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221096512","url":null,"abstract":"While observational rating scales such as the Emergent Literacy and Language Early Childhood Checklist for Teachers (ELLECCT) have potential to support Early Childhood Teachers in improving their practice, the existence of a valid and reliable tool is no guarantee of success. A carefully constructed model of teacher professional development will be required to ensure benefits for instructional practice and child language outcomes. This commentary considers the evidence available to guide intelligent design of such a model.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"588 - 591"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43141769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1177/01427237221096087
N. Havron, Camila Scaff, Kasia Hitczenko, Alejandrina Cristià
This commentary argues that to increase diversity in language acquisition research, the field should define specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-defined goals, and prioritize solutions based on their importance, tractability, and neglectedness, ideally in collaboration with a variety of other agents outside the research community.
{"title":"Community-set goals are needed to increase diversity in language acquisition research: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"N. Havron, Camila Scaff, Kasia Hitczenko, Alejandrina Cristià","doi":"10.1177/01427237221096087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221096087","url":null,"abstract":"This commentary argues that to increase diversity in language acquisition research, the field should define specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-defined goals, and prioritize solutions based on their importance, tractability, and neglectedness, ideally in collaboration with a variety of other agents outside the research community.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"765 - 769"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47247121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1177/01427237221092661
E. Veneziano, Eleonora Bartoli
This work is based on previous studies showing that a short conversational intervention (SCI) focusing on the causes of the story events is effective in promoting the causal and mental content of children’s narratives. In these studies, however, not all the children improved their narratives after the SCI). The present study examined individual differences in the effectiveness of the SCI and investigated whether they were related to variation in the children’s executive function skills such as cognitive inhibition and flexibility. Eighty 6- to 8-year-old French-speaking children participated in the narrative task and executive function tasks. In the narrative task, they first told a story (NAR1) based on the Stone Story made up of five wordless pictures involving a misunderstanding between two characters; each child then participated in the SCI, and finally narrated the story a second time (NAR2). Then, the children were presented with executive function tasks. Cognitive inhibition was assessed by the Animal Stroop test, and cognitive flexibility was assessed by a three-criterion classification task and a local/global figure-matching task. Group results showed that the children expressed the misunderstanding between the characters in mental terms significantly more in their second than in their first narratives. Results also showed individual variation in the post-SCI improvements and indicated a significant positive relation between large improvements in the children’s post-SCI narrative and their inhibitory control skills. No significant relations were found in this study between large improvements and the two cognitive flexibility measures. These results suggest that narrative-promoting interventions should closely consider individual differences in the effectiveness of their procedures and envisage working not only on promoting narrative content but also on the skills needed to benefit from the interventions.
{"title":"Individual differences in the effectiveness of a narrative-promoting intervention: Relation with executive function skills","authors":"E. Veneziano, Eleonora Bartoli","doi":"10.1177/01427237221092661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221092661","url":null,"abstract":"This work is based on previous studies showing that a short conversational intervention (SCI) focusing on the causes of the story events is effective in promoting the causal and mental content of children’s narratives. In these studies, however, not all the children improved their narratives after the SCI). The present study examined individual differences in the effectiveness of the SCI and investigated whether they were related to variation in the children’s executive function skills such as cognitive inhibition and flexibility. Eighty 6- to 8-year-old French-speaking children participated in the narrative task and executive function tasks. In the narrative task, they first told a story (NAR1) based on the Stone Story made up of five wordless pictures involving a misunderstanding between two characters; each child then participated in the SCI, and finally narrated the story a second time (NAR2). Then, the children were presented with executive function tasks. Cognitive inhibition was assessed by the Animal Stroop test, and cognitive flexibility was assessed by a three-criterion classification task and a local/global figure-matching task. Group results showed that the children expressed the misunderstanding between the characters in mental terms significantly more in their second than in their first narratives. Results also showed individual variation in the post-SCI improvements and indicated a significant positive relation between large improvements in the children’s post-SCI narrative and their inhibitory control skills. No significant relations were found in this study between large improvements and the two cognitive flexibility measures. These results suggest that narrative-promoting interventions should closely consider individual differences in the effectiveness of their procedures and envisage working not only on promoting narrative content but also on the skills needed to benefit from the interventions.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"523 - 547"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42333280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1177/01427237221096508
Lana B. Karasik, Yana Kuchirko
Research on early language abilities, much like psychology more broadly, has focused almost exclusively on infants from English and Indo-European languages, thereby limiting understanding of the role of varying linguistic experience that supports language abilities. We underscore Kidd and Garcia’s call to expand, diversify, and globalize language research. Using examples from motor development in which universality has long been assumed, we argue that embracing a cross-cultural perspective enriches theories of development more broadly. We conclude with suggestions for future directions.
{"title":"Talk the talk and walk the walk: Diversity and culture impact all of development – A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"Lana B. Karasik, Yana Kuchirko","doi":"10.1177/01427237221096508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221096508","url":null,"abstract":"Research on early language abilities, much like psychology more broadly, has focused almost exclusively on infants from English and Indo-European languages, thereby limiting understanding of the role of varying linguistic experience that supports language abilities. We underscore Kidd and Garcia’s call to expand, diversify, and globalize language research. Using examples from motor development in which universality has long been assumed, we argue that embracing a cross-cultural perspective enriches theories of development more broadly. We conclude with suggestions for future directions.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"779 - 783"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46687011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-13DOI: 10.1177/01427237221096085
D. Slobin
Kidd and Garcia remind us of the urgency of gathering comparable child language data across languages and cultures. They provide useful guidelines, and more are suggested here. Languages used for comparative analysis should be picked with regard to precise typological contrasts, pinpointing structures that promise to reveal processes of acquisition. Our knowledge gap may not be as severe as it seems to the authors; nevertheless, we are faced with daunting tasks of collecting data and preparing them for detailed analysis.
{"title":"Capturing what remains: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"D. Slobin","doi":"10.1177/01427237221096085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221096085","url":null,"abstract":"Kidd and Garcia remind us of the urgency of gathering comparable child language data across languages and cultures. They provide useful guidelines, and more are suggested here. Languages used for comparative analysis should be picked with regard to precise typological contrasts, pinpointing structures that promise to reveal processes of acquisition. Our knowledge gap may not be as severe as it seems to the authors; nevertheless, we are faced with daunting tasks of collecting data and preparing them for detailed analysis.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"818 - 822"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49546983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-13DOI: 10.1177/01427237221093847
Morten H. Christiansen, Pablo Contreras Kallens, F. Trecca
The study by Kidd and Garcia is long overdue. Their analyses of published research on language acquisition highlight the lack of typological diversity in studies of how children acquire their native tongue. We concur with their conclusion that more research on understudied languages is urgently needed. However, we argue that what the field needs is not just wider cross-linguistic coverage but a systematic comparative approach to language acquisition – one in which investigations of well-studied languages still has much to contribute.
{"title":"We need a comparative approach to language acquisition: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)","authors":"Morten H. Christiansen, Pablo Contreras Kallens, F. Trecca","doi":"10.1177/01427237221093847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221093847","url":null,"abstract":"The study by Kidd and Garcia is long overdue. Their analyses of published research on language acquisition highlight the lack of typological diversity in studies of how children acquire their native tongue. We concur with their conclusion that more research on understudied languages is urgently needed. However, we argue that what the field needs is not just wider cross-linguistic coverage but a systematic comparative approach to language acquisition – one in which investigations of well-studied languages still has much to contribute.","PeriodicalId":47254,"journal":{"name":"First Language","volume":"42 1","pages":"751 - 755"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42510184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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